A's must bottom out to get better

Cary Edmondson/US PresswirePennington is a decent player, but Beane could've had Troy Tulowitzki if they picked earlier.

There’s a fine line between trying to contend and trying to rebuild. Oakland Athletics president and general manager Billy Beane understands this dilemma all too well.

Indeed, it is counterintuitive for anyone competing at the highest level of a sport to engage in efforts that do not amount to winning. A competitor’s instinct is to do whatever is necessary to succeed. And yet, that thought process has hampered Beane in rebuilding the A’s into the juggernaut they were a decade ago.

His ability to scratch and claw with one of the game’s lowest payrolls in order to stay competitive has been admirable. Although the A’s haven’t had a winning season since 2006, they haven't been a doormat, either. And therein lies the problem. Beane has done a nice job of signing a number of undervalued free agents in recent years, and those players have helped the A's remain a middle-of-the-road club. This year, Beane signed Bartolo Colon and Jonny Gomes. Last year he brought in Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui.

The signings didn't cost him a draft pick, and the team probably won more than it would have without the free agent. That’s great, right?

Not really. Beane’s ability to pick up veteran players to help them stay competitive each year is great, but it cost them dearly in terms of draft positioning. Instead of losing more games and bottoming out to pick within the top five, the team was somewhat competitive with the undervalued players and pushed the A’s down to the No. 10 slot or later every year since 2005.

And this affects every round, not just the first. So the cumulative diluting effect of selecting later is significant. However, consider their middling first-round picks since 2005:

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Jim Bowden

Bowden, who served as the senior vice president and GM for the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals, is an analyst for ESPN.com.
In 1992, Bowden became the youngest GM in MLB history when the Reds hired him at age 31. The Reds finished in first place twice during his 10 years as GM, and he was named MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America in 1999.
After working for ESPN in 2004, Bowden became the first GM of the Washington Nationals when the franchise relocated from Montreal to Washington, D.C., in 2005, working in that role until the 2009 season. Bowden co-hosts the "Inside Pitch" radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio. Follow on Twitter: @JimBowden_ESPN.